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COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV 




APOLLO BELVEDERE. 
(VATICAN.) 



The Fire Regained 



Sidney M. Hirsch 



Ube ikntcfterbocfter press 

(G. P. Putnam's Sons) 

New York 

1913 









\'\» 



Copyright, February 7, 1913 

BY 

SIDNEY M. HIRSCH 



©CI.D 33319 



To supremest Jove 
I 'grave this image. 



DEDICATED 
Mrs. JAMES C. BRADFORD and Mrs. ROBT. W. NICHOL 



The Fire Regained 



ACT I 



{Scene: Grazing sheep upon a meadow^ guarded 
hy two dogs. The Shepherd {a youth) lies 
sleeping under a tree. Several Pans, Satyrs, 
etc.f appear and hold revel, dancing about. 
The Youth moves uneasily in troublesome 
dreams. The figures disappear. The Shep- 
herd arises as one in a trance; he appears 
strangely troubled and makes exclamation of 
deep despair, then falls heavily to the earth and 
immediately enters into a profound, dreamless 
sleep. Three Muses arise from the midst of 
the herd {Calliope, Euterpe, and Polyhymnia) ; 
they are draped with diaphanous veilings of 
delicate pinks and blues, bare-limbed and 
sandal-shod. Their hair, at first corymbus, 
shortly falls and envelops them in a vaporous 
cloud. They speed lightly over to the sleeping 
Shepherd.) 

Euterpe 
O ! Thou peasant, made poet, now living abreathing, 
twice born ! 



2 The Fire Regained 

O singer, mellifluous, fresh waken, . . . aye sing to 

the mom, 
Aye sing to the dawn of the day when was shorn. 
Thy memories of night. 
O sleeper of death, in the kiss ; . . . now awaken to 

life that is life ! 
Awake to thy nuptial, behold, aye! Enfold now thy 

mystical wife. 
Whose embrace doth now give thee a light, 
For the loss of that fire, consuming, O fire of strife ! 
O my lover of light ! Child husband ! 
Ecstasy hushes and hangs o'er earth and its whirr — 
Wings are down folded, quivers the violet to birth ! 
Within ear of the tiniest furry winged delicate thing, 
'Tis whispered ... be without fear, 
'Tis a gift in the kiss of our might ! 
O my lover . . . my leman of light ! 

(She stoops and kisses the Shepherd.) 

Calliope 

Hero bom ! sword wielder ! helmeted fierce, 
Hurling back spears of the Sun, mimic of Ar's, 
Maimer of underworld glyphs ; astride now thy horse. 
Winged and thirstful, aerial to drink 'pon the highest 

of heights, 
O rider, drink now of my gift ! 

From hence now thy mouth, be to river, the lips . . . 
The lips on the waters that flow, 



Act I 3 

That the rhythm shall rhyme, as a shore-thirsting 

wave-measured sea. 
O waters of words! that shall rouse, that shall flame 

heroes' hearts. 
Youths drinking shall long for a spear and a beard, 
long for the shock ! 
And the clashing of shields 'pon the plains of the 

battling wraths. 
Aye, dream dreams from the hearing of veterans, 
Who'll straighten and tense and live all again in the 

birth of the telling, 
And maidens and wives in presaging — 
Shall weep o'er the woes of the wars in the years! 
O youth, 'tis the breath-measured gift of my kiss. 
{She stoops and kisses the Shepherd.) 
Polyhymnia 
O mortal who dies in my kiss ! man who is bom ! 
Count the heart now thy mother, the virgin, ... no 

mortal hath known. 
Thy Father is he. Concealed of all the Concealed I 
The White Head . . . Supernal, O blessed be He! 
O man in my kiss, shall much of his name . . . 
vouchsafed unto thee ! 

{She kisses Shepherd, then disappears. He 
rises enthralled hy what he considers a ''vision 
dreamed.'') 

Shepherd 
Ye Sun ! Consoling light, O Earth ! 
Ye trees and shadowed streams, ye sky-lined hills, 



4 The Fire Regained 

O bleating lambs, ye rams, ye pebbled rills, 

I've dreamed a dream ! a vision rare vouchsafed to me, 

A maid, three heavenly maids 

Came down and kissed my mouth, 

And breath of theirs was sweeter far than any flower ! 

Sweeter than waters from a native youth-known well 

Drunk upon a parched midnight palate ! 

Sweeter than a love child's earliest lisp 

Upon the youngest mother's breast, 

O sweet it was and balmy past the telling ! 

And flame they brought that fires to whitest light, 

That purged my dross, refined, yea purified my very 

pure! 
Henceforth ... I their prophet am, — 
My lips can utter concord of but sweetest sounds, 

balmy breath, O soul of flowers, return again ! 

{An olive tree opens and admits Athene. She 
is helmeted and carries a spear. The Youth 
falls prostrate in reverence and awe.) 

Shepherd 

O! . . . O! . . . O! 

Now is this miracled day at zenith ! 

Athene 

1 am Athene ! 

Fairest daughter of supremest Jove! 




THE WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE. 
(UOUYRE.) 



Act I 5 

I sprang full lipped ; . . . full armed from that broad 

brow, 
Clove at one mighty stroke of ax by that lame God. 
I am the soul of man ! 
That mystic bride that weds him 'pon the highest 

height of mind, 
When all he gives in gladness, that he all might gain, 
Delights he, life to lose that he might live. 
O man ! unweighted idea ! 
One thought of Him who thinks on thought ! 
Well wilt thou serve me, 

For deed in mine own city, Athens, violet crowned, 
A maid, who guards my sacred flame. 
Spotless, untainted e'en by a thought. 
To shameful, hideous death decreed. 
The nether-world manes wrought 
By machinations foul that fume but in the darkest 

minds. 
This deed that e'en basest mortal, 
Man of reddest earth would shrink. 
These shades, . . . Ate inspired, have connived ; 
And Persephone in meads of Asphodel agreed. 
With Furies three, with fire controller's self, 
That each a runner should dispatch. 
Illy visaged, . . . illy humored, . . . illy seen. 
Four despicables ! . . . four Hadean helots ! 
And winner of this grizzly crew 
Should in embrace, foul . . . fetid. 
And claim the Hestia's virgin priest. — 



6 The Fire Regained 

Shepherd {to Athene) 

O! Wisdom's Self! 

O ! Princess, daughter of the King of Kings ! 

Aflame am I to speed, — 

My feet disdain the earth ! 

O ! earth sink from me ! . . . 

Athene {to Shepherd) 

eager youth ! 

Becalm thy flamings with wisdom's waters! 

To underrate the runners 'tis to lose the race already. 

Take thou my shield and speed ! 

And whoso looks therein, shall find a fate 

Acquired of himself . . . fearful either or fearsome — 

Shepherd 

1 stand with tingling feet ! 

The flame to speed consumes me ! 
Oh. ... I flame ... I flame. . . . 

{Shepherd falls in a trance to the earth.) 

Athene 

O poet who dies . . . 

Thou shalt prophet arise — 

{The Shepherd falls in a trance. The nine 
muses appear and wrap him in the white 
napery of the grave. The thirty-two black- 
robed acolytes appear carrying torches. The 
, Shepherd is lowered into the sepulchre,) 



Act I 7 

Athene 

The death of the poet ! 

Ah, weep all ye muses, ye glorious nine who are sung 

. . . who are evermore sung ! 
Attending the princess, whose heart is now sobbing, is 

evermore sobbing ... is evermore wrung ! 
For paused the galloping hills in their headlong and 

tireless flight, 
Bowed . . . their heads in the mourning of draperied 

night. 
Noble the night-bird in song of unnamable pain, 
Silent the wind, that asolian through grasses and 

grain. 
Runic the murmur of river and reeds 'long the shore 
Revealing of passionate pain in ineffable lore. 
Oh, that the soul of the world should be cleansed by 

the solace of tears. 
And its rock-ribbed heart attuned to the mystical 

music of spheres ! 
High in the perfume of pallid magnolia and moon. 
Coalescing with comfortless woe and the sob and the 

psalm of the loon , 
Ah! sorely oppressed are the valleys, the velvet 

savannahs and streams. 
For mute is their prophet, and silent their psalmist, 

. . . their dreamer of dreams. 
Back to the hills went his largeness ... to the 

reeds his pure polonaise. 



8 The Fire Regained 

Back to the Soul-source, helaic, returned the seer's 

white rays, 
Back to the All-love, his loving, aflame in the wine of 

the vale 
In the peace past sublime and supernal — 
'Tis the kiss of the groom Astreal. 

{The goddess Athene moves over and attends 
before the aperture of the sepulchre.) 
Athene {with authoritative gesture) 

Thou Might of Jove . . . arise ! 

{The stones at the top of the sepulchre appear 
to separate and shortly, to the amazed eyes of 
the muses and sombre-garbed males, the Youth 
still wrapped in the grave-clothes slowly as- 
cends into view. When he stands on the 
summit of the sepulchre, with one convulsive 
effort the grave napery is parted and thrown 
aside. He stands garbed in shimmering 
white.) 

Athene {to Youth as she gives her shield) 

Speed . . . and upon the coursive corridor 
Shall much be given thee ! 
All that hast unlearned been by thee 
Hath left a void, wherein shall rush 
In thy delight, purest word, 
-A Name that doth the all contain ! 
Speed, goodly messenger ! 



Act I 9 

{Athene disappears. A youthful Eros enters, 
leading Pegasus, who appears as a surpass- 
ingly beautiful white-winged stallion and 
seemingly aflame with light. The Eros delivers 
the Pegasus to the Youth and disappears. 
ThenYouth taking the bridle delivers ode.) 

Shepherd 

O Jove! Supremest, past thy Name! 
Enthroned above the waters, . . . 'lone . . . com- 
plete ! 
Reclaiming from him, who kings the River-ocean, 
Mighty monarch ! Horse creator ! 
Thou God of Gods ! Of king of Gods, ... the King ! 
To Thee, my prayer, that like the eagle's flight 
The highest height would no less gain! 
O, ^ther! way my winged words 
And hinder not their swiftest ascension. 
To Him, whose ear divine, doth man's word try 
Thou Light of Sun ! O Dionysos child! 
Passion I beseech, of thine own golden grapes. 
That nether shades, in ecstasy, are Lethe held, 
Nor can distract within of secret sin nor latent lie! 
I speed! ... I speed! 
OJove! OJove! OJove! OJove! 

The Shepherd carrying shield of Athene and 
leading the winged horse speeds once around 
the encircular and exeunt.) 



ACT II 

{The Hierophant, a broad-browed, ample man with 
streaming white beard and hair covering his 
breast and shoulders, attired in white sacer- 
dotal garments, enters accompanied by three 
black-bearded young Priests. They advance 
with solemn and majestic mien to the sacrificial 
altar. The Hierophant makes low obeisance 
and kneels before the cubical stone.) 

Hierophant 

O Zeus ! Thou cloud conformer ! Mist destroyer ! 

Whose breath is vital air and fire's soul, 

Whose wrath is lightning's spears and thunder's 

rumbling car ! 
Despoiling souls as sun dispels the clouds ! 

Thou! whose terroring eye, this delumed flame 

discerns ! 

1 thee approach, that I might name thine awesome 

Name ! 
Ineffable word ! O meditative mind ! 
Per' venture I, numbered negations have confessed and 

cleansed mine heart. 

lO 



Act II II 

Attending here before thine Oracle 

Might I within enveloping truth now call — 

And hear the voice unheard of mortal ear, the unseen 

rays discern, 
I utter now, with cleansed lips, and heart, and ears I 
Jove! . . . Jove! . . . Jove! . . . Jove! . . . 

A Voice of the Oracle 

The stone. . . . The stone ! 

{The Hierophant and Priests fall prostrate 
in awe.) 

The Voice 

Double the cube. . . . Double the cube ! 

Hierophant 

{Arises. To three Priests in great alarm.) 

Assemble the priests! Gather together the peoples! 
Sound upon the ram's horn ! Let blare the red- voiced 

trumpets . . . 
Wind upon the cornet ! 
For the Oracle hath spoken! ... it hath cried 

aloud . . . 
And that which is voiceless hath uttered ! . . . 
Yea ! that which is unrayed hath given forth rays ! 

{The three Priests sound upon the trumpets j 
etc., and are echoed from within the temple. 
Three times they wind. {a) Then enters a 



12 The Fire Regained 

high priestess. She advances with stately step. 
Then follow thirty white-draped maidens with 
loosened hair, (b) Enters a black-robed priest 
followed by thirty black- garbed priests, (c) 
Enters chorus, of maidens and male priests.) 



HiEROPHANT 

Ye ample men of Jove ! Ye virgin priests ! — 

O! Herders of the sacred sheep! O Hounds that 

guard the temple's flock 
Attend thine earnest ear ! . . . Attend ! . . . Attend ! 
For unto thee hath heaven's wish 
In hidden secret word come down. 
O ! awesome was the hearing ! Awesome now ! 
Mine inner heart! My soul's own soul did quake! 
O ! that I may with censor stand between thee and the 

wrath . . . 
That incense prayerful, spread abroad, might stay the 

plague! 
O Zeus! That white-armed Justice should with 

Graces three, 
Whose loveliness is tender-eyed as stars inwoven 
Through weeping rain, o'erwatch us now ! 
O ! Omnivirgin, clear-eyed Jove's Athene ! 
For thine own sacred city, Athens, we beseech . . . 
That wisdom, whose inner, whitest soul thou art, 
Might bring that liberty, that calm, serenest poise 



Act II 13 

Wherein, discernment of the secret words divine, 

shall be. 
With purest lips I voice . . . Athene! 

The Maxima 

Hierophant triumphant ! Thou mortal God ! 

Archtype of Him who spake the awesome word 

And formed this bounded earth ! 

Thou Head, Thou art of life in this our Argive land ! 

Let Mercy now attend 'pon Justice sombre. 

How else might Zeus his might express? 

Who mortal, could coincidence that line? 

O Thou whose thought is beauty, and whose word 
. . . the good, 

What hath perceived thee in commune with Jove 

That arrows aerial emanate from thee. 

And tremulous votaries, maids who guard the light, 

With timid step approach and search with eye sus- 
picious? 

Hierophant 

Let pulsing silence, and thick darkness cover ! 

Let words flexible be, and gates to memory ! 

Attend ye, who have gained an eye, and inner ear, 

Initiates, and all who are elect ! 

The Kings, the Thirty- two have with the Thirty 

fought — 
With fierce and soft desire did they now o'ercome. 



14 The Fire Regained 

And they who reigned ere balanced force did rule 

The victory gained. Oh, wail ye men of Jove! 

For one among the Thirty who with prudence guards 

the light 
Hath sullied maidenhood and chastity hath trea- 

soned. . . . 

Maidens and Chorus 

Woe. . . . Woe. . . . 

Strophe (Males) 

Justice decrees . . . Justice decrees ! 
Women are sobbing, strengthen our pleas! 
Justice severe . . . Justice severe ! 
Yoke is now galling . . . yoke we revere ! 
Justice deferred . . . Justice departs ! 
Strengthen our purpose . . . harden our hearts ! 

Antistrophe (Maidens) 

O Justice, veil thine eyes in mist! 
See beauty is balanced, 'twas wedded when kiss't. 
Let misty ey'd Mercy with Justice commune, 
Gentle Faith and lone Hope in our cause importune! 
See hills 'gainst the Argent, . . . tense stone weds the 

earth. 
Fierce Sun and the Sea . . . gentle rain brought to 

birth. 
Aye, Tide and the Moon in a Lesbian love, 
Strange sisters that live in the law of great Jove. 




aphrodite (venus de milo), 
(louvre.) 



Act II 15 

Yea, Sun and the Clouds . . . e'en Sun and the Sod ! 
The Artist with beauty . . . the Rhapsodist with 
God! 

Males 

(Repeat Strophe.) 

Epode 

Let cooling memories heal the mind, 

Serenity and calm repose attend, 

And 'neath that shield no shade can send 

An arrow nor a spear to blind. 

For 'pon that pleasant land Jove hath his eye 

And sends his rain and later rain, 

The law that cleanses, . . . the gold we buy, 

Wisdom we purchase with our pain. 

O Souls that throng the aether and will blend — • 

Cause adamantine hearts to break, and peace descend. 

HiEROPHANT 

When hero-born scans unhorizoned mind, 
And gains the grandeur of the plan entire, 
Then e'en deathless demons who do dwell in death 
Can serve. I call them now. 

{The underworld Gods appear and with weird 
ceremony torment the maidens.) 

Upon the temple's traitor, . . . Pan, I urge 
Thy sudden and thy frentic fear 
That guilt should be established. . . . 



i6 The Fire Regained 

Satyrs, Cybele, Hecate, all! Ye Gods of caves and 
grottos, 

Of frentics irrational. . . . Of panics irredeemable ! 

O Artemis, black melancholy that shall blast her soul ! 

O caves and mystic marshes send mephitic vapors, 

Earth hide her not ! . . . Sea cast her forth. . . . 

Shriek . . . shriek thou treasoned priest ! 

Let cries of thine, unclouded heaven blast 

And point thy guilt as bleak trees stab the sky! 

{One of the maidens suddenly becomes pos- 
sessed of hysteria and flees frantically towards 
the altar. She is overtaken by two priests and 
brought before the Hierophant.) 

Strophe {Male) 

The sins that mar our pristine state 

Demand propitiation! 

The clay that clogs our truest fate 

Demands an immolation I 

Nor Pity's tear scald fertile earth 

Nor heave the windy sigh ! 

The laws immute that brought us birth 

Demand a victim die 1 

O Justice send thy dire decrees. 

Choose thou a maid of one of these ! 

Antistrophe {Maidens) 

O Hestia! Virgin votaries we, 
Attend our tremulation. 



Act II 17 

Come Astraea from cerulean seas, 

To fend our tribulation. 

O guard thy doves within the cote 

That is thine own afflatus, 

Defence devise that shall defeat 

Storm shades would devastate us ! 

O Pallas! clearest eyed and brow'd 

Save thou thy maid from flaming shroud ! 

Three Acolytes 

O Zeus! 

Stem stands thy charioteer ; 

Thy might should be established. 

Lest wrath like green-eyed, mountain wolves 

Should plague the plains afamished ! 

Male Chorus {Insistent) 

Justice clear-eyed name decrees ! 
Choose thou a maid of one of these ! 

Maiden Chorus 

O Pallas e'en thee ! O . . . e'en thee we cry 
Lest tend'r'st bosom'd virgin die ! 

Male Chorus 

O Justice stern-eyed voice decrees ! 

Maiden Chorus 

O Pallas Athene ! Hear our pleas ! 



1 8 The Fire Regained 

Chant {Antiphonal. In unison) 

Priests : O Zeus ! that thy might — 

Response : O Zeus ! that thy might — 

Priests : In the earth be established — 

Response : In the earth be established — 

Priests: Through justice and with clinging mercy — 

Response: Through justice and with clinging 

mercy — 
Priests : Hail ! Hail ! Thou Supremest Jove ! 
Response: Hail! Hail! Thou Supremest Jove! 
Priests : Giver of the com, the wine, and the oil — 
Response : Giver of the corn, the wine, and the oil — 
Priests : That nourisheth the heart — 
Response : That nourisheth the heart — 
Priests : That deHghteth the soul — 
Response: That delighteth the soul — 
Priests : That maketh my face to shine — 
Response: That maketh my face to shine! 

Entire Chorus {in unison) 

Hail ! Hail ! Unto thee Jove supernal ! 

Light of the Sun ! Of the Sun of the Suns ! 

Giver of the com, the wine, and the oil ! 

Bread of the heart, ecstasy of soul, light that rays the 

face. 
Bountiful Jove ! Former of form ! 
Hail unto Thee ! Hail unto Thee I 



Act II 19 

Essence of ecstasy ! Return I unto Thee in rhapsody ! 

Hail unto Thee, Hail ! Hail ! 

{Athene appears in the midst of a misty 
fountain. All kneel in reverence.) 

Chorus 

Males Maidens 

Woe. . . . Woe! O . . . h! Oh! 

Athene 

The cube 'twas ever symboled man, 

And doubled ... be but bom anew ! 

Again the flame shall seek the sky, 

The red attain the blue. 

Then thrice ordeal of doves and lambs 

And night and day shall race, 

Lest innocence should shriek in vain 

And wrath cloud heaven 's face — 

Strophe {Maidens) 

Athene grave-eyed hath granted our boon, 

Yea wisdom unweighted en veiled the rune ! 

And stone to be doubled, . . . the riddle is ceased ; 

In new birth is now added, ... of the Best to the 

beast. 
Now him double-natured, . . . the mortal adds man, 
No longer obdurate, Jove's purpose can scan. 
Trust now to ordeal, seeking laurel coronal. 
Diadem rarest of Saturn's supernal. 



20 The Fire Regained 

Antistrophe {Males) 
We host of might do voice regret, 
No longer do the senses reign, 
No longer do they weigh of pain 
But rather of perfection fret ; 
These mortals who would 'scape the net! 
But though they dream . . . 'tis noble dream, 
Still Acheron will claim his debt. 
And we, obdurate to the lucid beam. 
Must, too, our barks that course beset. 
O Jove who veils himself in light 
E'en thou art bull indwelling night! 

Epode 
Should changeless God gain Protean plan, 
Whate'er is willed ; . . . 'tis then the good ; 
And man's new heritage of true law must scan, 
For what He is ... He is the God. 
Of type, then arch-type makes a new demand, 
And conscience be but quarrel 'twixt "to be" and 

"is." 
Perceiving some, the wheel an endless saraband 
None amaranthine but him, . . . Thanatos. 
O omniman nought constant is but change ! 
'Cept him who thinks on thought and nought can 

disarrange. 

HiEROPHANT {to Athene) 
Hail thou clear-eyed Olympian Athene! 
Omnivirgin, omniscient ! 



Act II 21 

Thy cryptic words inflame the mind eristic, 

But soothing waters are and palHative balm 

To simple memories who much of knowledge have 

unlearned, 
Perception trusting, essorant of wall and rampired 

banal states. 
And leaping troops that brandish black-gored spears 
As deadly keen as brumal winds that blast the vernal 

trees ; 
White poplars slim, ah shadowy slender brides 
That kiss Scamander's moon-thralled tremulous breast 
And willows wan that weep sweet melancholy's 

ecstasy. 
O Virgin wife! Of all who in life live, . . . the 

mother ! 
Thy word . . . and will of mine was banished, and 

my will . . . thy word 
Be it of holocaust or hecatombs. 
Or monstrous miracles with blood of goats and blood 

of bulls ; 
For 'mersed within the mood that doth preclude thine 

unveiled science, 
"To be," and "good to be," of dire difficulty knows 

not any. 
So be it then of thrice ordeal, of dove and ram and 

horse. 
And thou, the azure eyed, whom oaten pipes can ne'er 

o'ercloud. 
Shall in mine golden moment, give me gain of verdict. 



22 The Fire Regained 

Strophe (Male) 

Justice demands. . . . Justice demands! 
Pity is manless. . . . Strengthens our hands ! 
Justice deplores. . . . Justice deplores ! 
Pity is sown. . . . And Panic the sowers! 
Justice deferred. . . . Justice departs ! 
Strengthen our purpose. . . . Harden our hearts! 

Maiden Chorus 

Hestia ! Astraea ! Athene ! we beseech. . . . 

Male Chorus 

Justice attend. . . . Justice attend ! 
Stem eye and tearless . . . pity to 'fend ! 

Maiden Chorus 

Artemis, O moon-maid, we beseech. ... 

Male Chorus 

Justice disown. . . . Justice disown! 
Change in perfection . . . perfection is flown ! 

Maiden Chorus 

Nymphs and Nereids, Hera all now we beseech. . 

Male Chorus 

Justice deferred. . . . Justice departs ! 
Strengthen our purpose. . . . Harden our hearts! 



Act II 23 

{The thirty-two black- robed priests enter, each 
holding two black pigeons freighted with mourn- 
ing streamers. Thirty white-draped maidens 
enter, each with two white doves with white 
ribbons attached.) 

Maidens 

Thou tenderest doves . . . thou symboled souls of 

light 
Let thy caressing wings the empherean win, 
Thou gentle God-wives who do sear out blackest night 
List no outer, but intrinsic sprite within, 
Else some soilure should o'erfreight our prayers 

palanquin. 
O doves, thou amorous souls of light, 
Guide thy gentle flow aright ! 
Guide thou aright ! 

Thirty-two Priests 

Eerys of Erebus. , . . Erynys of f ate ! 
Careering 'pon the phantom's vapors 
Keen thy sensing . . . eyes dilate, 
Seek the regions ... he adores 
Who doth guard the Stygian shores. 
Tend thy forehead, guide thy flow. 
Woe and woe heaped high on woe, 
Yea, from right to left they flow! 



24 The Fire Regained 

Entire Body 

Woe and woe. 

{The thirty maidens and thirty-two priests 
loosen the doves. Then each member of both 
choruses simultaneously loosens two doves, 
chanting the while the last three lines of the 
maidens' and men's chorus.) 

HiEROPHANT {after observing flight of doves) 

The monad doth defeat our restive poise, 

No vouchsafed answer hath this first boon limned, 

And dreaded two, discordant ever ; seek ye now, 

Of lambs, white fleeced and dark wooled rams 

That she, who o'erwatches flocks, feeds well her 

jealous eye 
And sees no slight, that maddening beams should sear 

us 
Broken minded, bruited sad ones, prophets, sibyls, 

silly seers. 
Prescience urges that your smoking brands of resinous 

pine 
Propitiate and stave that fearsome fate. 

{The thirty-two priests and thirty maids exeunt 
and re-enter with white lambs and black 
rams and after choral dance, the lambs and 
rams are loosened from centre. After thirty 
seconds have expired, smoking brands are 



Act II 25 

stuck into the ground whereon the lambs and 
rams are grazing, and direction of smoke 
noted.) 

HiEROPHANT 

The breath of bounded gods, Olympian Joves combat ! 

O direful is the predilection ! 

Hence to your grottos . . . vade foul vapors ! 

Oppressing vitiated bodies, thy plaguing nocturnal 

O Phoebus dispel, permeate this discolored «ther! 

Sminthian, thou attend these mice of lumest whiteness 

Who do now in ordeal triune. 

Driving coursers, lion waisted, noble breasted, 

Black and white for doom or day, 

O attend ye River-ocean's King! 

{Enter two chariots with four horses each, 
four white and four black. A white-attired 
maid drives the white and a black-garbed 
Priest the black horses. Thrice around they 
race. Black-garbed Priest wins.) 



Maidens 



Woe! Woe! 
Woe and woe ! 



Male Chorus 



Justice attends. . . . Justice attends ! 
Woeful and awesome the omen portends ! 



26 The Fire Regained 

Justice immute. . . . Justice immute ! 
Doleful and direful her laws to refute! 
Justice deferred ! Justice departs ! 
Strengthen our purpose. . . . Harden our hearts. 

Hestia's Maidens {they surround the doomed maid) 

O give to the maids their sad sister maid ! 

O let us bewail, ah, bewail! 

All ye Nymphs and Dryads look 'pon slend'rest 
Maenad 

Who was frail . . . who was tremulous frail. 

'Tend ye timid*st Sprites ... ye Eerys of light 

Who are known . . . who are evermore known. 

Indwelling the zone of the soundingless tone, 

*Yond the pale . . . aye far *yond the pale, 

How the wind in the vale ... in the sea sounding 
vale, 

How the wind doth bewail. . . . How the wind doth 
bewail. 

{The Hierophant and three acolytes leading 
the accused maid accompanied hy the twenty- 
nine maidens enter the Temple to the ac- 
companiment of the maidens repeating the 
bewailment. After a silence, there enters a 
procession in stately and solemn movement. 
First the Hierophant followed hy the three 
acolytes, then the thirty maidens, then thirty- 
two black-garbed priests, ten Ethiopian cap- 
tives, four Numidian slaves, leading a red bull. 



Act II ^1 

Then jour Numidians leading white ox with 
maiden hound upon ox's back, then Jour 
Numidians with black bull, then follow ten 
Ethiopian barbarians. The procession halts 
before the altar and maiden is bound to post 
with red and black bull facing her on each side. 
The Hierophant advances with sacrificial 
knife. He purifies it in the water, air, fire, and 
earth. He raises knife to strike the neck of 
the maiden . . . when Hermes appears on top 
of Parthenon and with great and authoritative 
voice proclaims.) 

Hermes 

Stay. . . . Stay that thirsting knife 

That thirsts for purest maiden's blood. . . . 

Maiden Chorus 

Ah . . . Ah! 

Hermes 

Halt thine activities . . . gaze with rage impotent — 

Ye hosts of nocturnal discordances ! 

From high Olympus have I gained this vantage 

And far upon tumultuous seas, 

Five runners I descry — 

Maidens 
Ah, Hestia . . . Astraea, we beseech. . . . 



28 The Fire Regained 

Hermes 
They speed with swiftness that doth at once proclaim 
No mortal runners they, 
But rather disembodied shades — 

Male Chorus 
Woe . . . woe . . . 

{The three Jury runners enter, horribly vis- 
aged, hideous nether shades; one is armed with 
a spear, one a net^ and one a trident; when they 
near the maiden, they begin fighting among 
themselves and all fall. Then enters the fire 
god's runner, he is limping and carries a 
long-handled hammer. He appears exhausted 
and makes painful, slow advance. Maidens 
are sobbing aloud.) 

Male Chorus 

Justice decrees . . . Justice decrees! 

Women are sobbing . . . strengthen our pleas ! 

Justice severe . . . justice severe ! 

Yoke is now galling . . . yoke we revere ! 

Justice deferred . . . justice departs ! 

Strengthen our purpose . . . harden our hearts ! 

{When fire god's runner nears maiden, he 
staggers and falls from exhaustion and is un- 
able to arise. He painfully attempts to draw 
onward. Enter Athene's messenger.) 
Maiden Chorus 

Ah . . . Ah! 



Act II 29 

{He, too, appears exhausted and stumbles 
slowly along.) 

Maiden Chorus 

Athene . . . Hestia . . . Astrsea . . . we beseech. . . . 
( Youth struggles on and when abreast of the 
fiery messenger, he too falls.) 

Maiden Chorus 

Woe . . . Woe . . . 

{The fiery one regains his feet and raises 
hammer to strike the goodly youth, when re- 
calling the shield of Athene, that the goddess 
herself had given him, the youth raises it and 
the fire god's runner, seeing his own reflection 
in the shield, falls shrieking horribly to the 
ground. The goodly youth takes the fire god's 
hammer, and strikes the rock, and a spark is 
communicated to the altar; the flame is re- 
kindled amidst shouts of great acclaim. 

The youth releases the maiden, who on he- 
coming unbound, is discovered as Athene her- 
self, helmeted and triumphant! She mounts 
to the altar and stands unharmed amidst the 
flames. The entire assembly make deep obeis- 
ance of reverence and awe.) 

Entire Assembly' 

Hail ! Hail ! Hail ! Unto Thee, Jove's supernal ! 



30 The Fire Regained 

Hail unto thee ! Hail unto thee ! Hail unto thee ! 
God of all gods ! King of the King of Kings ! Sov'ran 

of all! 
Reclaimer and Redeemer! Restorer and Reformer! 

Merciful past mercy ! 
Father of gods! Father of Light! Source of true 

Light! 
Hail! . . . Hail! . . . Hail! 
Merciful Jove. . . . Bountiful Jove. ... All loving 

Jove! 
Hail thou supernal ! 
Hail! . . . Hail! . . . HaH! . . . 

{A chorus from within Temple repeats as 
echo,) 

FINIS 




THE THREE FATES. BY MICHAEL ANGELO. 
(FLORENCE.) 



ARGUMENT 

A Shepherd lies sleeping under a tree, his flock 
of sheep graze near by. A number of Wood Nymphs 
Dryads, etc., appear; they are pursued by Pans, 
Satyrs, etc. After throwing leaves of the soma plant, 
grapes, etc., upon the Shepherd, they disappear. 

Three Muses appear and speed over to the sleeping 
Shepherd, and after chanting of their gifts they stoop 
and kiss the youth. They disappear. 

The youth arises, enthralled by the beauty of what 
he considers a vision dreamed, and addresses ode in 
praise. 

Athene (the goddess of wisdom) appears; the youth 
falls prostrate in awe and reverence. She informs 
him that, in Athens, one of the thirty virgins who 
guard the sacred flame is falsely accused of unchastity. 
The underworld gods or demons have connived, and 
the Furies and Hephaestus (the fire god) have dis- 
patched four runners to consummate the agonized 
death of the virgin. 

They can be defeated only by the youth defeating 
them in the race over the horizon and seas, etc., and 
rescuing the maiden. 

The Shepherd at a glance from Athene, dies. The 
nine Muses appear and prepare him for the grave. 

31 



32 The Fire Regained 

Black-robed figures appear and lower him into the 
sepulchre ; they disappear. Eros enters with Pegasus. 
The youth, taking the winged horse, delivers ode and 
beseeches aid for his perilous mission. Then exit. 



ACT 

The Hierophant, accompanied by three young 
priests, enters and stands before the oracular stone, 
and inquires of the gods. The oracle answers in 
secret phrase. The Hierophant assembles all the 
priests, maidens, etc., and makes known to them the 
terrifying omen. 

He attempts to discover the guilty one amongst 
the thirty maidens and calls upon all the underworld 
demons to appear, and, through their weird ceremonies, 
to blast and break the mind of the guilty maiden. 

One of the maidens suddenly becomes possessed 
of hysteria and the facts seem to assure all of her guilt 
and she is brought shrieking horribly before the altar 
and condemned to death. 

At this moment the goddess Athene appears and 
orders that the maiden be granted boon of trial by 
ordeal. 

The first ordeal, that of dove flight, is to determine 
her innocent if the doves fly to the right, and guilty 
if to the left. 

The second ordeal consists of lamb and ram cere- 
mony and afterwards the direction of the smoke from 

33 



34 The Fire Regained 

smoking torches noted which had been stuck into the 
ground. 

Third ordeal, chariot race, maid driving white, 
and male priest black chariot, and black wins. 

Maiden is condemned to death and the maidens 
surround her and lament her maidenhood. 

All enter Parthenon. 

Procession then enters of priests, maidens, barbar- 
ians, etc., chanting the death chant. 

Maiden is bound upon back of an ox, led by four 
Numidian slaves; she is preceded by a red bull and 
followed by a black bull, both attended by Ethiopian 
slaves. 

The maiden is bound to post, with a biill facing her 
on either side. 

The Hierophant advances with sacrificial knife. 
He purifies knife in water, air, fire, and earth. Just 
as he would strike, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, 
appears and stays all proceedings. He announces 
the discovery of the five runners that are racing for 
the shades. 

The Furies* messengers break into view; they are 
followed by the fire god's racer. The goodly vouth 
enters last. 

In contest with the other runners, he recalls the 
shield of the goddess which will turn all beholders to 
stone, and succeeds in rescuing the maiden, who on 
being released is discovered as Athene herself, helmeted 
and triumphant. 



PERSONS IN THE DRAMA 
Pallas Athene 

HiEROPHANT 

Shepherd 

Pans, Satyrs, etc. 

Nymphs, Dryads, Bacchantes, etc. 

The Furies' Three Runners 

The Fire God's Runner 

The Thirty Maidens 

The Thirty-Two Male Priests 

Attendant Priests and Priestesses 

The Nine Muses 

Hermes 

Three Acolytes 

Eros 

The MAXIM.E. 

Ares or Ar's — The god of war. 

Ate— The goddess of malicious mischief, an ever- 
present evil genius who incites to folly and 
crime. Daughter of Eris or strife. 

^ther — Personification of the air. 

Acheron — A fabled river of Hades. 

Amaranthine — The amaranth plant, symbol of im- 
mortality. 

35 



36 The Fire Regained 

Acolyte — A young priest, a novice. 

And leaping troops, etc. — Symbolically speaking, there 

is a wall that separates the supermundane from 

the mundane. This wall is guarded by a grizzly 

crew of banal temptations. 
Argive — Poetic name for Greece. 
Artemis — The lunar goddess, hence one smitten by 

her beams — a lunatic. 
Astrcea — 



.A personification of purity 
Astnal 

Bounded gods — Other than the infinite Olympians. 

Cyhele — A fearful goddess of the earth. 

Calliope — Muse of epic poetry. 

Clio — Muse of history. 

Cryptic — Secret. 

Dryads — Maids of the woodland. 

Dionysos — God of wine that intoxicates the soul — 
ecstasy. 

E'en thou art hull in dwelling night ! 

When in the earth (or the land of darkness as 
compared to heaven, the land of true light), 
Jove would assume the form of a bull. Witness 
his occasion with Europa, lo, etc. Also in 
Egypt (the land of darkness) he was worshipped 
as the bull. 

Enthroned above the waters — The Creator is greater 
than the created law. (Water, symbol of truth.) 

Eros — God of love. 

Eerys — Spirits. 



Persons in the Drama 37 

Erebus — A place of utter darkness between the earth 
and Hades. 

Euterpe— Muse of lyric poetry. 

Erato — Muse of love poetry. 

Eristic — Argumentative, self-righteous. 

Glyphs — Shades, shadows, spirits. 

Graces — Hope, Faith, and Mercy. 

God-wives — Doves (the symbol of the soul) ; the soul 
is mystically spoken of as the bride of God. 

Holocaust — A burnt sacrificial offering. 

Hermes — Son of Zeus and Maia, messenger and herald 
of the gods. 

Hero born of twice born — Awakened to spiritual under- 
standing. 

Hestia — The goddess of the hearth, corresponding to 
the Roman Vesta. 

Hierophant — The chief priest or expositor of the 
Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece. 

Hera — The queen of the gods, daughter of Kronos, 
sister and wife of Zeus. 

Hecate — A three-headed goddess having power over 
three worlds, earth, heaven, and the underworld; 
a much dreaded, fearful shade of sorcery, hatred, 
etc. 

Hecatomb — A sacrifice of a hundred bulls. 

Horse creator — Poseidon, the god of the River-Ocean, 
a body of water that encircles the world. Po- 
seidon created the horse (symbol of passion). 

Jove — The highest name of the highest god. 



38 The Fire Regained 

Lesbos — The isle where Sappho loved and sung. 

Lethe — The stream of oblivion in the lower world, 
from which souls drank before passing to Elysium, 
that they might forget all earthly sorrows. 

Mephitic — Poisonous, pestilential. A cavern at the 
foot of Mt. Parnassus, near Delphi, was remark- 
able for a vapor which it exhaled, which had the 
power of convulsing any one who breathed it. 

Monad — Unity, the one. 

Man of reddest earth — Base mortals. Red was the 
sjrmbol of the fiery passions. 

Mcenad — A broken-minded maiden. 

Mystical music of Spheres — The relations of the notes 
of the musical scale to numbers, whereby har- 
mony results from propositional vibrations of 
sound, and discord from the reverse, was one 
of the reasons that led Pythagoras to speak 
thus. 

Muses — The nine daughters of Zeus (rational mind) 
and Mnemosyne (memory). 

Melpomene — Muse of tragedy. 

Nymphs — Maiden spirits that inhabited trees. 

Nereids — Sea nymphs, daughters of Nereus and 
Doris. Attendants of Poseidon. 

One thought of him who thinks on thought — Aristotle 
wrote: "But behind all these gods, there is One, 
the prime mover, whose essence is that ecstasy 
to which the wisest men sometimes attain. He 
spends his time thinking on thought." 




HEAD OF HERMES BY PRAXITELES. 
(BERLIN.) 



Persons in the Drama 39 

Oaten pipes — Pan's pipes. 

O Jove who veils himself in light 

O Jove! Supremestj past thy Name! — The Grecian 
mystics held that the name of Jove only, expressed 
their highest ideal and the idea of God. His 
majesty and greatness extended far beyond that 
ideal. 

O Zeus! Thou cloud conformer! — The cloud was the 
symbol of the soul, since the sun (symbol of 
Zeus) formed them from water (truth) . 

Polyhymnia — Muse of religious poetry. 

Pan — An Arcadian woodland spirit and god of the 
hills and woods, flocks and herds, son of Hermes 
or Zeus and Callisto. He is represented as 
horned, goat-footed, playing on his pipes 
and exciting sudden and irrational fear (hence 
panic). 

Protean — Personification of constant change. 

Proteus — God of change. 

Palanquin — A vehicle. 

Pallas Athene — ) Daughter of Jove. She sprang fully 

Pallas — ) formed from his head. The god 

of fire, Hephaestus, assisted at the birth by split- 
ting Jove's head with a hammer. 

Per' venture J, numbered negations have confessed — 
In the ancient mysteries initiates swore aloud 
that they had not been guilty of any one of the 
thirty- two vices. 

Phosbus — Name of Apollo. 



40 The Fire Regained 

Perception trusting, essorant of wall, etc. — Trusting 
perception instead of sense- received evidence 
and avoiding mental states, etc. 

Pegasus — The winged horse of inspiration, a blow 
from whose hoofs caused the fountain of inspira- 
tion called Hippocrene to spring from the moun- 
tain Helicon. 

Rune — Secret, Runic. 

Stygian — Pertaining to the River Styx, the infernal 
regions. 

Sibyl — A prophetess. 

Sminthian — So called from the fact that mice (the 
symbol of the soul) were sacred to him; one of 
Apollo's names. 

Satyr — Woodland demon in the train of Dionysos, 
depicted as a shy, wanton, cunning creature with 
goat-like ears, pug nose, short tail, and budding 
horns, delighting in music, dancing, revel, wine, 
and women. 

Saturn — King of the older Grecian deities and father 
of Jove. 

Saraband — A ghostly, weird dance. 

Scamander — A sacred river of Greece. 

Thanatos — The shade of death. 

Tend thy forehead — Depend upon self instead of the 
beneficent powers. 

That she who o'erwatches flocks, etc. — Artemis, who, 
if slighted, would render them all lunatics. 

The Name — The understanding of Jove's name which 



Persons in the Drama 41 

was believed to bestow miraculous power upon 
the possessor. 

The stone, etc., Double the cube — It is recorded that 
in the dim antiquity a fearful plague ravaged 
Greece and when the Hierophant inquired of the 
oracle at Delphi how the plague might be 
stayed, the enigmatical answer of doubling the 
stone was given. 

The Kings, the thirty -two have with the thirty fought — 
The vices that attack the soul were thirty-two in 
number and the virtues that protected were 
thirty. 

The yoke we revere — The religious law was termed the 
yoke. 

Thy cryptic words inflame the minds eristic — The 
populace and uninitiated are angered by their 
inability to penetrate past the veil of symbolism 
of the sacred literatures. 

To Simple memories who much of, etc. — Wisdom was 
said to be the memories from a past pristine state 
as differentiated from knowledge gained by senses, 
which only obstructed the flow of wisdom's 
streams. 

** To he'' and ^' good to he'' For 'mersed within the mood, 
etc. — Socrates and Protagoras argued on the 
famous line of Simonides* poem, *'It is easy to 
be good." It was concluded that it was difficult 
to become good (great) but easy to he afterwards. 

Terpsichore — Muse of dancing. 



42 The Fire Regained 

Thalia — Muse of comedy and bucolic poetry. 

The zones of the soundingless tone — Beyond the senses. 

Urania — Muse of astronomy. 

Unhorizoned mind—The limitless mind of the Infinite. 

Water—The symbol of the law of truth. 

Zeus — Another name for Jove. 



r^lAY 8 1913 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

015 939 105 A 



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•''"lill 



